Counterbalancing device



3 H. MOECKER, JR., ET AL 1828'675 COUNTEHBALANCING DEVICE Filed July 25,1950 Patented Oct. 20, 1931 4 EENRY' monoxnn, in, or rLossMoon, Annniinorn B. island, or maveeimmpis.

ASSIGNORS To AMERICAN srovnnoo urAny, or's'tr; rou sfl' mssounr, A;compo-na prion or NEW, JERSEY oonnrnnnnranome DEVICE 7 Application filedmy 25, 1930'. Serial No. 470,714.

This;inventionrelates to improvements in counterbalanclng devlces, beingparticular: ly directed to an lmproved spring balancing hinge. I

. 36- The primary object time males "a mi provide. a hinge or likedevice Whichis coun-,

- ter balanced when it is moved in'either direc- 10 hinge. v

tion to open. or in a direction toclose the particular'element which isattached: tothe, 1

A further tb 'ct ear. n ates a 5&6

vide a hinge which is counter balanced: in; both. of the inovementsofdirection asin:

gle spring member.

Other ob 'ects, novel. features of constrilc tion and improved resultsof the invention will appear from thefollowingdescriptionandaccompanying]drawings. v In the draw ngs; f 111:;

ll gure 1 1s a viewlinsld'e, elevation ofthe improved device showing" anapplication of the same toa stove; a portion of the :view

' being in vertical section.

improved device, one position of the hinge h r I l 0 tionbemg shown ndotted lines.

bein shown in full lines and anotherposi-;

apparentthat the principle of theinvention can be applied to hinges usedfor other pur- I y poses without departing from the spirit of .theinvention, and that minor dillerences of construction over that shown inthe accompensive yet durable and convenient device for use with raisinand lowerln or 0 enin b b andclosing elements, where it is eitherneces-' sary or desirable to have the elements spring balancedeither-forfe'a'se' of operation orfor the purpose of preventing theelements from dropping or slamming when they are-moved ;from a raised'to'a lowered or from an open to a shut position.

2 is a View in side, elevationof the The present invention has beenconceived for the purpose of counter-balancing ahinge carrying a hood orcover for the jcooking top' portion 0ft), gas range, but it will bereadily could b e put, 3 designates: the frame-which is usually of,angle-iron surrounding the cool ing top portionsof a gas range, while 4;"designates a hood or cover-for covering and l-mem ..cook g=-top P i oft range; Thishood orcover ispivotally sup 7 ported upon stove. frame3,byone or more h1nges, -su ch as illustrated at 5; This hinge islpivotally mounted, as at 6,1011; the'stoveframe and has. an upwardlyextending arm- I 7, to'which is fastened a portionS of the hood andalsoprovided with a downwardly; extending arm 9, which extends" throughopen:

ing .10 in the stove 'fra y me to terminate at a point beneath the same;

' itably attached, as at the stove frame and suspended in a position,beneath thesaineis :a bracket 12 of the cona figuration, illustrated thedrawings, al-

thoiighthe particular configuration is not;

essential to the present invention. U The bracket is fastened at twoplaces for the pur 513ipose of making it rigid, but aswill be evi-'dent-after a' further reading ofthe descrip-g f tion, this bracket couldbe in the form of one depending arm only, provided theqsame is"sulficiently strong.

A coil spring 13 has its as at 14, to the',lower end of the dependentarm' 9 of the hinge,.while its other end is atg tached as at .15 to theadjustablescrew or turn buckle 16, carried by-the bracket 12. f

With the parts in the positions shown in. Figure 1, where. the hood isin its lowered position, the turnbuckle 16lis so adjusted that the coil:spring is under tension, thus exerting a pull uponthe hinge arm 9v inadirec-n tion indicated iinthis' figureoil the drawings. byarrow, withthe result that as the hood or cover is manipulated by its handle 17 toYassumea lowered position, this spring has a tendency to counterbalancethe weight of the hood or cover to prevent it from sla1nming downwardlyto its closed position.

When the hood or cover is lifted, and is approximately midway between iits raised and lowered positions, the hinge and spring v i 100 assumethe positions illustrated in full line the points 11,,to,

in Figure 2 of the drawings where it will be seen that the depending arm9 of the hinge and the: spring 13 have moved towards the right, with theresult that thespring is in a normal position and is exerting no tensionwhatsoever upon the hinge arm 9. This might be termed the neutralposition of the hinge. r

. When the coveror hood has been; comwith what we have termeda1compensating member 17, which in reality is a rigid element carried bythe frame'12andpositioned in the path. of travel of the coilspring.

' The result of the'contactbetween the "coil;

1 s. rin -13 and the com ensatin member 17 P o P a isto cause adistortion of the spring as clearly indicated in Fig. 2 of the drawings,which distortion puts the spring under tension and causes it to pulldownwardly upon the hinge arm 9 in the direction indicated by arrow.

This downward pullu pon'the hinge arm 9 gives a resultant uplift uponthe hinge arm 7 and preventsythehood orxcover 8' from slamming" upon thestove frame 3, when the cover is moved into its lifted position.

From the construction described, it will be seen that we have provided ahinge which is counter-balanced in both directions of.

movement by a single spring and that the device although simple -infconstruction is highly eflicient in operation;

' A device of the character herein described is very' desirable whenraising or lowering,

or opening or closing a door, coveror some similardevice ofconsiderab-le weight or considerable size, as it' will prevent theelement from-striking with full weight when assu'ming either'of itsextreme positions, The deviceis particularly advantageous when used on astove wherein the parts areenameled, because sudden ars or slamming willcause a crackingof the enamel and in opening and closing the parts'ordoors ofa stove the oper atorfoftentimes releases the handle of the--d0or orflike element-before thesame has reached either position.

Attention is directed to the fact that the compensating member need notnecessarily its complete open or closed be of the particular shapeillustrated in the drawings; that varying designs or types of sprlngcould be utilized; that the bracket could readily be'for'med in othershapes than that illustrated; thatv the hinge could be made indifferentshapesyand that the device could be applied to other constructions thanthat illustrated in the drawin s, but that these various constructionalc anges would still .not' depart from the spirit of the inventionwherein a counter balance arrangement is provided in the medium of asingle spring.

Having thus dQSCIlbQClour invention, what,

we claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is: 7

1. A counter-balancing device for a hinge comprising a coil spring, saidcoil spring being under tension when the hinge is in one extremeposition, and means in the path of travel of said spring to distort thespring to put it under tension when the hinge is moved to its other.extreme position.

2; In combination with a pivotally mounted hingemember, arms extendingto each side of the saidpivotally mounted hinge member, a'coilspringconn'ected to one hinge arm and exerting a tension thereupon whenthe'hinge is in one extreme position, and means in the path of travel ofsaid spring'to distort the. M I same and. cause a tension upon the hingearm whenthe hinge is moved toits other extreme position.v

3. In combination with a pivotally mounted hlnge member havlng armsextending to either side of the pivotal supportof said member, asupport, a coilspring havlng con'-' nection with said support and one ofsaid hinge member arms, acompensating member carried by. said support inthe path of travel of said spring, and said spring causing a tensionupon the movement of the hinge member in either direction.

4. In combination with a hinge member, a

coil spring connected thereto, a bracket, said spring hfLVlIlg adustable connection w1th j said bracket, a member positioned in thepathof travel of said spring, and said spring adapted to cause a tensionupon the hinge member upon movement with the hinge memher. in eitherdirection.

'5. An improved device for supporting doors or the like, comprising apivotally mounted hinge member having a pair of arms, one of whichcarries said door, a spring at tached to the other hinge arm andto afixed anchor, said spring exerting a tension upon said hinge arm tendingto retard the closing of the door when the door is moved to a closedposition, a member positioned in the path of travelof said spring whenthe hinge is swung to move thedoor to an open position, and said springbeing distorted by said member to cause atension upon the hinge armtending to retard the opening of the door when the door is moved to anopen position, for the;

purpose described.

. 6. An improved device comprising a stove frame, a'hinge memberpivotally supported thereupon and carrying a cover, for the before saidstove frame, said hinge member having an'extending portion to which isattached a spring, a bracket attached'to said i stove frame to whichsaid spring is anchored,

a compensating member carried by said bracket in the path of travel ofsaid spring and said spring adapted to cause a tension upon the hingemember to retard the movement of the hinge in either direction;

7. A counter-balancing device for a pivotally mounted member, comprisinga'spring, said spring retarding the movement of said member in either ofits directions of move ment around its pivot as said member apv proachestheend of its travel. v

8. 'A counter-balancing device for a hinge or the like comprising, aspring, said spring r retarding the movement of said hinge when thehinge is moved to either open or closed position, p

' 9; In combination with a hingemember or the like, a spring connectedthereto and movable therewith, and said spring in its movement being putunder tension, relieved of its tension and then again put under tension,for the purpose described. 7

10. A counter-balancingv device for a hinge or the like comprising aspring, said spring under tension when the hinge is in one extremeposition and movable with the hin e I to its other extreme position, andwhen 1n said other extreme position said spring, under tension andexerting a force upon said hinge in a direction at right angles to thetension originally exerted upon" the hinge.

11. A counter-balancing device for a pivotally mounted member movable ina circular path, comprising a spring connected to and movable with saidmember, said spring exerting a pull upon "said member when the 7 memberis at one end of its path of travel and exerting a pullin a differentdirection when the member is at the opposite end of its path of travel.

12. A counter-balancing device for a hinge or the like comprising aspring, said spring being under tension when the hinge is in one extremeposition and movedin a direction" transverse its axis when the hinge ismoved to its other extreme position, the tension of said spring releasedduring the movement of the hinge from one position to the other, andmeans in the path of travel of the spring to put it again under tensionas the hinge approaches its said other extreme position.

In testimony whereof we hereunto aflix our signatures. v HENRY MOECKER,J R. HAROLD B. ISAAC.

